We’ve had a lot of wonderful avian visitors to our yard this spring. Dave set up a new feeding station since we suspect that our old one was knocked down by a bear and it’s been quite a hit. There are also now two bluebird boxes in the field so this year we have an Eastern Bluebird pair! Many of our yearly visitors have returned, including the Chipping Sparrows, Gray Catbird pair, American Robin pair, Rose-breasted Grosbeak pair, a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a Broad-winged Hawk, and the Red-eyed Vireo. Our Northern Cardinal and Pileated Woodpecker pairs have also been making frequent appearances.
Gray Catbird (Image by Michelle Horowitz)Gray Catbird (Image by Michelle Horowitz)Pileated Woodpecker male (Image by David Horowitz)Pileated Woodpecker male (Image by David Horowitz)Yellow-bellied Sapsucker breeding male (Image by David Horowitz)Chipping Sparrow (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
What kind of birds have been visiting your yard/area this spring? Let me know in the comments!
Today turned out a little differently than I expected, but we were still able to take a walk at Mine Falls Park. It was in the mid-30s and cloudy. Shortly after the start of our walk it started to lightly snow. Not too many species out today, but we saw a few. Later in the day we ended up having some intense snow squalls, so I’m glad the snow was light while birding.
Mine Falls Park, Nashua
1 Red-tailed Hawk
1 Blue Jay
1 Common Merganser
30 European Starlings
26 Rock Pigeons
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
Site Total: 6 species, 60 individuals
Other species we saw today while out and about included Mallards, a Mourning Dove, and a Black-capped Chickadee, bring our total species count of the day to 9.
I’m not sure what the rest of our weekend will bring, but it might be some backyard birding for me. I just checked the eBird website and worldwide 6,016 species have been reported so far. That’s over half of the world’s bird species in 2 days! I wonder how many we’ll reach through Monday.
How is everyone’s bird count going so far? Did you see anything interesting? Tell me about it in the comments!
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there! A special shout out goes to my husband Dave because he is celebrating his first Father’s Day as a dad! He is a wonderful father to our sweet baby boy.
We had our son in February and he has been growing so quickly. Baby Birder (I’m going to refer to him as this for privacy reasons) had his first birding experience on Mother’s Day at Mine Falls Park in Nashua. It was a lovely hike where we saw birds such as Baltimore Orioles, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Wood Ducks.
The oxbow lake at Mine Falls Park on Mother’s Day (Image by Michelle Horowitz)
Since Mother’s Day, Baby Birder has been to Mine Falls 3 more times. The last time we were there we spotted a male Downy Woodpecker feeding a juvenile. I thought it would be fitting to post the short video I took for Father’s Day.
At the beginning of April, Dave and I traveled to New Hampshire and Massachusetts. We are moving to New Hampshire in June due to Dave’s new job, so our primary purpose of the trip was to find an apartment. But you know us! Can’t travel anywhere without birding :-).
Mine Falls Park, Nashua, NH
Mine Falls Park is a 325-acre urban park located along the Nashua River. Mine Falls Park offers over 9 miles of trails and is part of the New Hampshire Heritage Trail System. Habitats include forest, fields, and wetlands. We explored the only side of the park by walking down the Nashua Power Canal towards Oxbow Lake. We observed 24 birds species and a muskrat. I definitely plan on making Mine Falls Park one of my regular birding spots once we move.
Highlights:
Pileated Woopeckers: We observed 2 Pileated Woodpeckers within the first 10 minutes of being in New Hampshire. (Pileateds are one of my favorite birds, so I knew 2 right away were a good sign lol)
Other woodpeckers: Hairy, Downy, Red-bellied
Large flock of Common Grackles and Red-winged Blackbirds
Pileated Woodpecker female (Image by BirdNation)
Hairy Woodpecker (Image by BirdNation)
Greeley Park, Nashua, NH
Greeley Park is more of a recreational park than it is a birding park. There are trails as well as large stands of pine trees. We observed 11 species during our walk.
Highlights
Quiet! It’s not often I stand in a park that’s next to a neighborhood in the middle of a city and hear…silence. Come to think of it, I don’t think I can go anywhere in New Jersey and just hear silence (as in just nature sounds without man-made ones). NH is definitely not NJ. I can get used to less noise!
White-breasted Nuthatches and Black-capped Chickadees
Hampton Beach State Park, Hampton, NH
Hampton Beach SP is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Hampton Harbor Inlet. We spent some time sea watching by the inlet.
Highlights:
Horned Larks. There was a flock of about 10. We’ve only seen one Horned Lark so far; a juvenile at Laurel Run Park in Delran, NJ. It was a great surprise to see adults.
Common Loons and Common Eiders
Eastern Mud Snails
Red Wing Farm Reservation, Chelmsford, MA
Red Wing Farm is a small park comprised of meadow and forest habitat. This park connects with the 25-mile Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.
Highlights:
Bald Eagle and Red-tailed Hawk
Spring Peepers along the rail trail
Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Sudbury Unit and Concord Unit, MA
Great Meadows is 3,800 acres and runs along the Concord and Sudbury Rivers. We briefly visited both the Sudbury and Concord units and observed a variety of spring migrants.
Highlights
Lots of spring sounds: Spring Peepers and other frogs, Eastern Phoebes, Red-winged Blackbirds, Black-capped Chickadees, and others
A muskrat and turtles
Painted Turtle (Image by BirdNation)
Singing Red-winged Blackbird male (Image by BirdNation)
Hi friends! On my last post, I mentioned that Dave and I have some exciting news. Well…here it is.
We’re migrating! A one-way migration, that is.
At the end of June, Dave and I will be moving from New Jersey to New Hampshire!
Dave is graduating in May with an electrical engineering degree, and he got a job in northern Massachusetts, so we’ll be moving right over the border into southern New Hampshire. I’m so proud of him that he’s achieving his dreams, and now we are on to some new adventures.
The exciting news isn’t without a little sadness though. I’ve spent my entire life in New Jersey, and I honestly never really thought I would be leaving it. I will definitely miss being able to see family and friends whenever I want, but now we will create new memories in a different setting when we visit each other.
I’ll also miss the locations that have grown dear to us over the years birding…especially places like Haddon Lake Park, Barnegat Light, and Cape May. We’ve created so many wonderful memories since we’ve starting birding in New Jersey 5 years ago, and I get a little emotional thinking about not being able to visit these place at any time. I feel lucky that I’ve been able to start my birding life in New Jersey, where we have some of the best birding spots along the Atlantic flyway. But through the blog, I can look back at all the cool places we’ve explored.
One thing I know I won’t miss though…living in a state of 8.9 million people that borders two major cities of millions more people (lol)! These days you can never really escape traffic (unless you live in the middle of nowhere I guess), but I’m anticipating that New Hampshire traffic won’t be quite like New Jersey’s.
As much as I’ll miss the old birding locations, I’m looking forward to new birding adventures. New Hampshire is known for its natural beauty. The White Mountains, a region of the Appalachians, dominates part of the state and includes the highest peak in the northeastern US, Mt. Washington. The northern areas of the state is where the southern boreal forests of Canada meet with the northern deciduous forests. There are numerous rivers and lakes, as well as 13 miles of coastline and beaches along the Atlantic Ocean. We will also be closer to Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Canada, and it only takes about 2 1/2 hours to get to our favorite city, Newport, Rhode Island. There will be so many cool birding opportunities!
We will be heading up to New Hampshire in the month of April to check out some places to live the area. It will be my first time traveling to NH (the farthest north I’ve been on the East Coast was Boston). If you’ve been to or live New Hampshire and have any suggestions of places to check out or cool birding locations, please let me know in the comments!
BirdNation 